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CES 2018 Blackout: 10 Tweets tell the tale

By Chris Burns/

CES 2018 had a blackout on Wednesday, January 10th, resulting in near total darkness in both North and Central halls at the LVCC. The irony of this situation was not lost on participants in the "world's gathering place [for] consumer technologies," and suddenly social networking made sense again. Shared photos, videos, and information bits were made public instantly, and through our compatriots we're able to quite easily tell the whole story to you, right this minute. Reactions to the situation are included here, where I write this article safely at home, hundreds of miles away from the action.

Every PR professional worth their salt took to Twitter (or other similar social media networks) to let loose a uniquely targeted Brand Tweet during or after the darkness. Press and other attendees also made their location known with on-the-ground reporting. First up, easily the brand making best use of the blackout: Intel.

1. Intel Blackout

Intel branded the event "Blackout™" and took one lovely photo of the hall in which they resided. Intel also took the time to connect said blackout to the introduction of 5G – which might not have been advisable, in the short term.



2. Energizer Batteries keep lights lit

The folks at Jasco took the opportunity to light up their corner of the convention center with represented brand Energizer. In a sense, this blackout is an extremely lucky happening for them. Perhaps a little too lucky...



3. Lockdown tragedy

Hard-hitting journalism from this event included such gems as the following tweet from CNET's Drew Stearne. Sad news if you didn't bring your own charger with to the convention halls. Sad news indeed.



4. Hashtag #CESBlackout

Nathan O'Neal took a few more photos to fill out the situation on the ground. This Tweet also contains the hashtag #CESBlackout which hundreds of users have latched on to almost in unison. Almost a little too in unison...



5. Watching from home

Some users like Kim (below) reacted the same way we did – albeit from a state on over to the right. Michael Jackson eating popcorn is almost always the right gif to use for exciting and/or dramatic situations.



6. Lenovo recalls Oreo

Lenovo made a timely addition to the Tweetstorm by sending a shout-out to Oreo. This tweet is in reference to the massively successful "dunk in the dark" Twitter Ad run by Oreo Super Bowl of 2013.



7. Samsung (and a few other brands) remain lit

Samsung remained lit, as they had their own power source. Samsung was apparently running on backup power at some point – no word yet on how long said backup power can last.



8. Music in the dark

Another from Intel, who clearly have their PR shoes tied and on the right feet this afternoon. At the Intel booth, Intel recorded HÄANA making music in the dark. This is how you make the best of a dark situation. Our header image for this article also comes from the HÄANA Twitter account, and depicts HÄANA playing in front of a crowd at the Intel booth.



9. Held Outside

The folks at Roadshow captured the fallout from the event right after an evacuation was announced. Here's hoping there's no sneaky villains hiding out inside while everyone else is kept out.



10. CES is working on it, jeepers!

The official CES account on Twitter let the world know that they were hard at work on a solution for the "isolated power outage" in progress.



This blackout is almost certainly temporary. We'll report to you if anything else extraordinary happens. Until then, hit up that hashtag and keep abreast of the miniature level madness!

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